Know about Harpoon Block II missiles – India Signs Deal with USA to Purchase 24 Harpoon Block II missiles worth $170 million.
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Saturday, September 04, 2010
India has signed an agreement with the US government to purchase 24 Harpoon Block II missiles for its Jaguar strike aircraft, in a bid to ramp up its maritime warfare capability.
The missiles are intended to aid the Indian Air Force’s Jaguar strike aircraft in their aerial guard of the nation’s coast by providing them with littoral-water anti-ship capabilities for targets close to shore.
The missiles are for the Indian Air Force’s maritime strike squadron.”
The deal, expected to be worth about $170 million.
The Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile system, developed and manufactured by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Defense, Space & Security).
In 1965 the U.S. Navy began studies for a missile in the 45 km (25 nm) range class for use against surfaced submarines.
The name Harpoon was assigned to the project (i.e. a harpoon to kill "whales", a naval slang term for submarines).
The Harpoon missile was designed to sink warships in an open-ocean environment.
Harpoon Missiles are time to time upgraded by company and have many types.
As per type the name changes.
Production of the Harpoon began in 1975, and the first version to enter service was the shipborne RGM-84A in 1977, followed by the AGM-84A on P-3 aircraft in 1979.
The UGM-84A became operational on attack submarines in 1981.
There are also unarmed training versions of the AGM/RGM/UGM-84A, designated ATM-84A, RTM-84A and UTM-84A.
The Harpoon was first introduced in 1977
Twenty-nine countries are Harpoon II customers and number is increasing.
More than 7,200 Harpoons have been produced.
In November 1980 during Operation Morvarid Iranian missile boats attacked and sank two Iraqi Osa class missile boats, one of the weapons used was the Harpoon missile.
Submarines fire a capsule containing the Harpoon from their torpedo tubes.
When the capsule breaches the surface, the top is blown off and the missile is launched.
The submarine Harpoon is contained within a capsule and is called ENCAP for encapsulated.
The ENCAP is the same size and general shape of a blunt nosed torpedo and is launched from submarine torpedo tubes and it floats when ejected from submarine and does not require power .
The ENCAP consists of a nosecap, main body and after body.
The missile is on shock isolator rails within the main body.
The after body has fins which direct the ENCAP towards the surface at the proper angle for missile launch.
Once the ENCAP breaches the surface, the nosecap is blown off by a small rocket and the missile is launched.
The Booster Section consists of a solid fuel rocket and arming and firing device.
Surface and submarine platforms use a booster to launch Harpoon and propel it to a speed at which sustained flight can be achieved.
The Booster Section separates from the missile before sustained flight begins.
Aircraft launched Harpoons do not require a Booster.
Depending upon launch conditions, the Harpoon engine generally will not start until after the missile is dropped from the wing.
This allows firing from higher altitudes and longer range flights.
The Guidance Section consists of an active radar seeker and radome, Missile Guidance Unit (MGU), radar altimeter and antennas, and power converter
. The MGU consists of a three-axis attitude reference assembly (ARA) and a digital computer/power supply (DC/PS).
Prior to launch, the DC/PS is initialized with data by the Command Launch System.
After launch, the DC/PS uses the missile acceleration data from the ARA and altitude data from the radar altimeter to maintain the missile on the programmed flight profile. After seeker target acquisition, the DC/PS uses seeker data to guide the missile to the target.
The Harpoon missile launcher can be mounted on a truck.
Another truck holds the Command Launch System electronics and a generator.
Park the two trucks, connect them with cables, and the anti-ship missile battery is ready to control straits or prevent ships from threatening friendly soil.
General Characteristics:
• Length: 182.2 in. ship launch, 151.5 in. air launch
• Diameter: 13.5 in.
• Weight: 1,160 lb. Air configuration
• 1,459 lb. ASROC configuration
• 1,520 lb. TARTAR configuration
• 1,523 lb. Capsule/canister configuration
• Range: In excess of 67 NM
• Propulsion: Air-breathing turbojet engine (cruise), solid-propellant booster
• Guidance: Terminal: Active Radar
• Midcourse: GPS-aided inertial navigation
• Warhead: Penetration, high-explosive blast
• System Elements: Missile - Common for all launch platforms
• Booster - For surface, sub and land based applications
• Launch Support Structure and Canisters
• Command and Launch System - Provides engagement planning and launch control
• Platforms: Air, land, surface and sub-surface applications
• Ships
• Aircraft
• Submarines
• Coastal Defense
• Fast Patrol Boats up through Destroyers and Frigates
• F/A-18, F-15, F-16, F-27, F-50, P-3, S-3
• Wide range of Sub classes with 9 foreign navies
• Mobile Land Based Truck Platform
Harpoon Block II provides accurate long-range guidance for land and ship targets by
Incorporating the low-cost inertial measuring unit from the Boeing Joint Direct Attack
Munition (JDAM) program; and the software, mission computer, integrated Global
Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System, GPS antenna and receiver from the
Standoff Land Attack Missile Expanded Response (SLAM ER).
The multi-mission Block II is deployable from all current Harpoon missile system
Platforms with either existing command and launch equipment or the commercially
Available Advanced Harpoon Weapon Control System (AHWCS).
Harpoon Block II is capable of executing both anti-ship and land-strike missions.
To strike targets on land and ships in port, the missile uses GPS-aided inertial
Navigation to hit a designated target aim point.
The 500-pound blast warhead delivers lethal firepower against a wide variety of land-based targets, including coastal defense sites, surface-to-air missile sites, exposed aircraft, port/industrial facilities and ships in port.
For conventional anti-ship missions, such as open-ocean and near-land, the GPS/INS eliminates midcourse guidance errors enroute to the target area.
The accurate navigation solution coupled with launch system improvements combine to offer better discrimination of target ships from islands, nearby land masses or other ships. These Block II improvements maintain Harpoon’s high hit probability against ships very close to land or traveling in congested sea lanes.
Harpoon Block III –
Harpoon Block III program was canceled by the U.S. Navy in April 2009.
But this does not mean that Harpoon Block II will not be upgraded time to time.
Does Pakistan Got the Harpoon missile?
The United States has provided a total of 165 Harpoon missiles to Pakistan, including 37 of the older-model weapons that were delivered from 1985 to 1988.
Pakistan will get 30 Harpoon Block II encapsulated missiles and related equipment under the foreign military sales program.
The order was part of a $191 million contract awarded to McDonnell Douglas Corp/Boeing and placed by the US Navy on March 30, 2007. The contract was scheduled for completion December 2011.
Total – 90 Harpoon Missiles.
Below is the photo of Harpoon Missile –
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